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THE ERIE CANAL, AND THE FIRST STEAM LOCOMOTIVE.

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Congress passed a tariff bill, by which the duties on fabrics made of wool, cotton, linen, and silk, and those on articles made of iron, lead, etc., were much increased.

One party wished Congress to appropriate money for important public works. The practice, you know, has become quite common in later years for congressmen to secure appropriations for public works in their respective districts. During the younger Adams administration there were many who opposed such action, and insisted that each section should take care of itself. The greatest of these works then in progress was the Erie Canal. This was called "De Witt Clinton's Ditch," and he was ridiculed for persisting in digging what so many believed was a costly and useless thing. On the 4th of July, 1817, the canal was begun, and in October, 1825, it was opened for traffic. The Erie Canal, three hundred and sixty-three miles long, is the largest in the world, and connects Lake Erie and all the Great Lakes with the tide water of the Atlantic.

Although the canal passed through a region of great fertility, much of the country at that time was a wilderness. It gave a tremendous impetus to the settlement and prosperity of the state. Villages and towns sprang up as if by magic along its banks, and some of these are now important cities. The original cost of this vast work was seven million six hundred thousand dollars. Its earnings have been so enormous that in some years they amounted almost to half that sum.

It was not long before the first steam locomotive in the United States was put in service on the Delaware and Hudson Canal Railroad. This was in August, 1829, shortly after the close of the younger Adams' administration. Steam was soon introduced on the Baltimore and Ohic, and on the Albany and Schenectady railroads, also on that from Charleston, South Carolina, to Hamburg.

Some of those early locomotives were odd-looking affairs. Those on the Baltimore and Ohio had a working-beam over the middle of the boiler, so that each one looked like a steamboat on land. The first obtained by the Camden and Amboy Railroad was brought from England, and is still preserved with great care. Perhaps you saw it at the Centennial, where the engineer who used to run it over the road was almost as much of a curiosity as the engine itself. This locomotive was always known as "Johnny Bull," or "Number One." The tank was a large hogshead, and, when running, the engineer and fireman had to stand in the open air. If the driving snow and sleet were more than they could stand, they stretched a piece of canvas in front of their faces. Homely and crude as were those early locomotives, they were capable of high speed. I have seen "Johnny Bull" travel at the rate of nearly a mile a minute. That surely ought to satisfy anyone, but it is now surpassed every day by the beautiful engines on the Pennsylvania and other leading railways.

The number of miles of railroad in operation in this country in 1830 was twentythree; ten years later it was 2,818; ten years after it had increased to 9,021, and, to-day, if all our railroads could be extended in a straight line, they would reach more than five times around the globe.

The presidential election in the fall of 1828 was marked by much bitterness and strong party feeling. Adams offered himself again, and was ardently supported by Henry Clay; but Jackson's popularity could not be resisted. He could not compare

in scholarship, attainments and statesmanship with Adams, but " Old Hickory" had a place that no one else could attain in the affections of the people. His courage, patriotism, bluntness, and remarkable success were qualities that won him high favor, not only with the masses but with leaders. And so it came about that while Adams was given

the electoral vote of New England, of Delaware, and a part of that of Maryland, all the rest went to Jackson, who thus received a hundred and seventy-eight to Adams' eightythree. Calhoun was re-elected to the vice-presidency.

The younger Adams left the country in a highly satisfactory condition. The national debt had been diminished, and there was a surplus of more than five millions of dollars. An epoch of progress, development and prosperity had begun."

A

CHAPTER XXVII,

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 1829-1837.

NDREW JACKSON was a leading actor in the history of his country, long before he was honored with the highest office in the gift of the people. He was born in Union County, North Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767. Jackson himself believed

that his birth-place was in South Carolina, but it has been proven that it was a little on the North Carolina side of the line.

His father was an Irishman, the son of a linen-draper near Carrickfergus, Ulster, the ancestors of the latter being Scotch. The mother of Andrew Jackson was left a widow five days after his birth. She was poor, and it was hard work for her to find the means of educating her three boys. Andrew was as fond of fighting as Decatur, and when only thirteen years old, as you may recall, he took part in the battle of Hanging Rock. The

eldest brother was killed while fighting for his country, and the other brother died of a wound inflicted, it is said, by a British officer, because the boy refused, when a prisoner, to do menial duty for him. Andrew also received a wound, because he too refused. He took small-pox and was left to die, but his mother secured his release and he got well. His mother died of fever while on her way home from Charleston, whither she had gone to take some necessaries to friends on board a prison-ship. When the Revolution ended, Andrew, therefore, was the sole survivor of the family. He studied law, and at the age of twenty-one went to Nashville. The outrages of the Indians brought him to the field, where he so distinguished himself that the savages named him Sharp Knife and Pointed Arrow.

In 1796 he was a member from Tennessee of the house of representatives, and the following year was advanced to the senate. He sat there a year without making a speech or casting a vote. Then he resigned and went home, where he had been appointed a judge of the supreme court of Tennessee, and major-general of the militia. You have been told of the part he played in the Creek War, and in that of 1812, by which he gained such a high military reputation.

The aggressive spirit of Jackson marked him in boyhood. One of his early playmates remarked that he was the only bully he ever knew who was not a coward. He seemed to have a quarrel on his hands all the time.

His duel with Charles Dickinson, of Tennessee, in 1806, was one of the most fearful conflicts of the kind. Dickinson first wounded Jackson, who then shot him dead. He resolutely concealed his own hurt to prevent his dying antagonist the satisfaction of knowing he had hit him. Jackson always kept the pistol with which he shot his foe, and was proud to show it, for Dickinson's skill in pistol shooting was almost marvelous, and no one ever could understand how it was he failed to kill Jackson.

However, we must not spend too long a time on the personal history of this extraordinary man. With all his faults of temper, he was inflexibly honest, patriotic, and in his latter days, religious. He was chivalrous toward women, and pure in his private life. I certainly have said enough about “Old Hickory" to show you why he was so popular through the country.

One of the first acts of the new president was to appoint personal friends to his cabinet. Martin Van Buren was made secretary of state; Samuel D. Ingham, secretary of the treasury; John H. Eaton, secretary of war; John Branch, secretary of the navy, and John McPherson Berrien, attorney-general.

Jackson went further than Jefferson in regard to removals from office. "To the victors belong the spoils," was his doctrine, and he lived up to it without any thought of the modern idea of civil-service reform. During his eight years of office, Jackson turned six hundred and ninety persons out of office, and, counting those who in turn were dismissed by his appointees, the total could not have been short of two thousand. Jackson's predecessor had removed only seventy-four.

It was at that time decided that the postmaster-general should be a cabinet officer, and William T. Barry was appointed to the place.

Jackson was fortunate in entering upon his duties at a time when the country was

1832.]

PRESIDENT JACKSON AND THE UNITED STATES BANK.

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tranquil and prosperous. In 1830 the revenue of the government was twenty-four million dollars, while the expenses were a little more than one-half that sum. During that year, a treaty of commerce was made with Great Britain, by which the English ports in the West Indies, South America, the Bahamas and the Bermudas were opened to American vessels, and our own ports were made free to British vessels coming from those places. A treaty was also signed at Constantinople between the United States and Turkey, securing to us the free navigation of the Black Sea and the trade of the Turkish Empire.

There were no events of note in 1831, but they came fast enough in the following year. It was impossible that a man of such positive convictions as President Jackson could hold his office long without causing a turmoil. He did not like the United States Bank. In his first annual message, delivered in December, 1829, he argued it had failed to establish a uniform and sound currency, and that its existence was contrary to the spirit of the constitution. In January, 1832, a petition was read in the senate, asking for the renewal of the charter of the bank, which would expire in 1836. The committee to whom was referred the petition reported in favor of renewing the charter for fifteen years. After a prolonged debate such a bill passed both houses of Congress, during the summer. President Jackson vetoed it, and the necessary two-thirds could not be got to pass it over his veto.

The fight of Jackson against the Bank of the United States was one of the most excit ing events of his administration, the whole country taking sides on the question. At the beginning of the session of 1832-33, the president openly declared his doubts of the solvency of the institution, and advised the removal of the deposits of public money. These deposits were subject to the order of the secretary of the treasury, who was required to give Congress his reasons for removing the deposits. Jackson believed that the bank was buying up members of Congress, so that at the next session the two-thirds vote would be at command, and the bill would be passed over his veto. It was necessary, therefore, to cripple the bank before the next meeting of Congress. He ordered Secretary William J. Duane to remove the deposits; the secretary refused, and Jackson removed him. Roger B. Taney, afterward chief justice of the United States, was appointed in his place, and the transfer was made, the deposits being placed in several banks that had been selected. In his fight, therefore, with the great corporation, Jackson triumphed.

It was at the height of the excitement that the presidential election of 1832 took place. Jackson's course respecting the bank had made him so popular that out of a total electoral vote of two hundred and eighty-six, he received two hundred and nineteen. Henry Clay had forty-nine, John Floyd eleven, and William Wirt, seven.

William Wirt was known as the Anti-Masonic candidate, and it was expected that Henry Clay would gain a large support from those who were opposed to that order. Freemasonry is the most popular secret order in the world. In its lodge rooms, Indians, Mussulmans, Jews, Christians, and the most violent political opponents meet in perfect friendship and brotherhood. But during the first administration of President Jackson an incident occurred that imperiled the